But looked to near have neither heat nor light." - Meaning and context.">
Act IV, scene ii.
“

Glories, like glowworms, afar off shine bright,
But looked to near have neither heat nor light.

— John Webster

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Glories, like glowworms, afar off shine bright,
But looked to near have neither heat nor light." in the context of "Act IV, scene ii." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "John Webster" (Quotes, Duchess of Malfi (1623)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John Webster

About John Webster

John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1634) was an English Jacobean dramatist, a late contemporary of William Shakespeare. His tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage.